Hasta La Gadget!

Nintendo today kicked off the first full day of E3 with a press conference at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Executive vice president Cammie Dunaway began the conference by  highlighting the success of the gaming industry: “NPD says that last year video games were just as big as home video and just as big as toys. And ever better than music and movie box offices put together.”

Dunaway then introduced the latest game featuring its perennial favorite character, Mario. New Super Mario Brothers for the Wii is a
throwback to the platform gaming that defined early entries in the series. New Super Mario Brothers lets up to four players play at once, the camera constantly zooming in and out to fit all in the frame at the same time. The game is due out for the 2009 holiday season.

Nintendo also updated its popular fitness game with Wii Fitness Plus, which features six new strength and yoga activities, 15 new balance games, and a first-person Mario-like jumping game. Wii Fit Plus is due in fall of this year as a standalone game or bundled with the Wii Fitt board.

The WiiMote also got an update, in the form of the Wii Motion Plus (above), an add-on to the controller that gives users more precision control over the device. The gaming suite Wii Sports Resort will be the first game to take advantage of the device.